Araghchi: Iran Reviewing US Position in Indirect Talks

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said indirect talks with Washington are continuing through intermediaries, adding that Tehran is reviewing the US position on its proposal and will issue a response within days.

Araghchi said Iran had presented its plan and received Washington’s position in response. Tehran is now studying the US views before delivering its reply.

The indirect contacts are being conducted through Qatari mediation, with the Strait of Hormuz at the center of discussions over the conditions for fully reopening the waterway amid continued tensions between Tehran and Washington.

According to Iran, the main issue is not negotiating a new understanding but implementing the conditions outlined in a previous memorandum of understanding. Tehran has proposed that the Strait could be fully reopened and security restored within seven days if those conditions are implemented.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said messages continue to be exchanged between Tehran and Washington through intermediaries.

He added that Iran has conveyed its conditions for ending the war and restoring security in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz and will deliver its response to US proposals through mediators.

Baghaei also said Iran is consulting with Oman on restoring navigational security in the Strait, arguing that Tehran has a greater interest in securing the strategic waterway than any other party.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, stressed that Iran would not surrender its right to uranium enrichment or hand over its enriched uranium stockpile.

He said nuclear negotiations were not currently on the agenda and described US statements on the issue as stemming from “desperation.”

Tehran has maintained that any future nuclear negotiations would not affect its right to enrich uranium.

Iran’s proposal therefore links the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to implementation of its stated conditions, while maintaining that any future nuclear talks would not require it to abandon its position on uranium enrichment.